We must tell girls their voices are important.

Malala Yousafzai, the young woman who rose from the valleys of Pakistan to become a voice for the voiceless, declared with fiery clarity: “We must tell girls their voices are important.” This is no simple encouragement but a call to arms, a declaration of justice, and a reminder of the sacred duty to affirm the worth of every child. For when a girl is told that her voice matters, she is not only strengthened for her own journey — she also carries the power to reshape the world around her.

The origin of this saying is found in Malala’s own life. As a child, she witnessed a society where girls were often silenced, denied schooling, and told that their dreams were unworthy. When she dared to speak out for the right of girls to learn, she was met with violence, struck down by those who feared the power of education. Yet even after surviving an attempt on her life, she rose stronger, becoming a global symbol of courage. Her words carry the weight of lived struggle: she speaks not in theory, but from the battlefield of oppression.

History offers many mirrors to her truth. Recall Joan of Arc, a peasant girl who heard a call within and dared to lead armies into battle. In a time when women’s voices were dismissed, she stood unshaken, declaring visions that kings and generals could not ignore. Though she was silenced by fire, her voice carried across centuries. Her life, like Malala’s, shows that when a girl claims her voice, she can alter the destiny of nations.

The heart of Malala’s teaching is this: silence is a prison, and voice is freedom. For too long, countless girls have been told to stay quiet, to obey, to remain unseen. Yet each time we withhold from them the assurance that their voices matter, we dim a light that might have guided the world. And each time we affirm them, we awaken a fire that will not easily be extinguished. To tell girls their voices are important is to strike a blow against fear itself.

To the parents and elders, the message is clear: raise your daughters not in chains but in freedom. Do not hush their questions or belittle their opinions. Instead, nurture their speech as you would tend a flame. Let them know that their words, their dreams, their defiance, and their wisdom are treasures to be heard, not hidden. For the child who grows knowing her voice matters will one day stand firm against injustice, unafraid to speak even when the world tries to silence her.

To the girls themselves, hear this as a trumpet-call: your voice is not small, nor is it weak. It carries the weight of your ancestors, the breath of your sisters, and the promise of your daughters yet unborn. Speak for yourselves, but also for those who cannot. Speak with truth, speak with courage, speak even when the world mocks or resists. Your voice is the sword that carves a path through ignorance and the torch that lights the way for generations to follow.

The eternal lesson is this: the world is diminished when half of its voices are silenced. When girls are told that their voices matter, families grow stronger, communities more just, and nations more whole. But when they are silenced, humanity itself is crippled. Therefore, let us act: encourage our daughters, amplify the voices of women around us, and create spaces where their words are not only heard but honored.

Thus, Malala speaks as both survivor and herald of truth. “We must tell girls their voices are important.” Let these words ring like a commandment across time. Let every parent, teacher, and leader carry this duty as sacred. For in the voices of girls lies the chorus of tomorrow — a chorus that, once awakened, can transform the brokenness of the world into harmony.